Guess what I found?

UPDATE:  total there were 6 kittens, however we only saw 5 total, so we think maybe something happened to the 6th.  The cats belonged to the neighbor down the street, so they are now home.  What will happen to the kittens?  Well they will go to good homes....and we may be one of those homes, not sure yet.  Stayed tuned...

So on Tuesday, my mom said she saw a Cat on the back patio, it was a momma cat with a gray kitty.  She didn't think much of it, thinking they were the neighbor's.  

 

Then on Wednesday, my great nephew Caelum was spending the night and he told me at dinner he saw an orange kitty under the wood box in the back under the deck.  So after dinner we went out to investigate....and what did we find?  We found a momma kitty and three babies, a white one, a gray one and an orange one.  

 

The momma is tame, but very very skinny, so I had to feed them some food and milk....the little ones are a little wild and unsure of us still.  It was really hot out there after dinner, about 103...so we left them to eat and came inside.  Then this evening I went back out to see if I could get a picture to send to Kevin.  I found all of them, and since it was cooler, they decided they could do some playing....

 

 

while I was watching them, I realized something....wait, are my eyes right?  Yep there is a 4th baby.....

 

 

We left them all for the night and will check on them in the morning.  Not sure what we are going to do with 5 more cats...yikes.  I am not even sure Kyburz knows yet, it has been too hot for him to venture outside too much....

Heading home....no choice, had to go through NE

On our way home, we stopped in Lincoln NE, for the night.  We went to eat dinner and drove along and found:  Beacon Hills Restaurant.   The food was good, it was a good find.

Before we went in, we noticed all these really old cars around, there were at least 50 of the in the lot:

Then came the last day....the day you arrive home, we choose to go toward Denver, and not Cheyenne...

Here we are Welcome to Colorful Colorado....whew...but still 2 hours home...

We got home settled in, and this is how content Mobi was to have us home...

Iowa and the Amana Colonies

After leaving Missouri, we headed to Iowa.  We wanted to see the Amana Colonies.

 

This is an interesting area consisting of 7 villages, created by some German Settlers in the mid 1800s, they lived in the villages communally, till 1932.  The villages are still mostly taken care of by the Amana Society and the Amana Church. 

 

Many of the buildings and farm area are intact

We enjoyed stopping in each village to see what was there and do a little shopping

I decided not to buy this rocking chair....though, Kevin did rock himself to sleep in it....and besides I wasn't sure where I would put it...

The general stores were very cool.  This one has the original floors, and tin ceiling, and all the original counters etc...

Each Village had its own church, because at the time of building them, the people didn't have a means to get quickly from village to village, now only Middle Amana has church services.  They still do mostly German Services. 

We enjoyed our time there, it was fun, to see a simpler life, and try various treats, pastries, popcorn, jams, honey, gather some recipes, and even some gifts....

Judge Jody

While touring the Court House, I was able to sit in the Judge's seat.....so Here I am as Judge Jody....I actually really like Judge Judy....I wish I could talk to stupid people the way she does, so this was me, wishing....

River Boat

After our tour at the Arch, we went to take a Riverboat Cruise on the Mississippi River...

Of course from the boat, you have amazing views of the Arch

They are making a new highway to go across the river.....I don't think I want to work at the top of that crane.  

At one point on the cruise, you see the arch, but yet it looks like just a single tower...

We also cruised under several old bridges, this one was really cool with the train and the cars on top...

Yes we even made it to Illinois (this is important as we go there later in the evening)

Here is that same bridge from the arch....

Here we are on the boat...

That night, after the Arch, the Court House Tour, and the River Boat, we decided to go to Illinois to the Casino Queen.  We enjoyed the cool temperature of the Casino, played the penny slots for a few hours and then went to dinner at their Prime Steakhouse.  Kevin had the prime rib, and I had the steak Diane...both were really good, the service was exceptional, and we had a nice little round both in the back, perfect for an Anniversary dinner....

St Louis and the Arch

I was excited the day we got to go to the Gateway Arch....The sun was shining and we were on our way, and I looked out the car window and saw this....so beautiful...

Here is the baseball stadium.....we get a better view (see below) from inside the arch..

The arch as we approached on foot...

A couple of panoramic shots... one to the city and one to the Mississippi River

First things first though, we had to go up inside the arch....here is where you wait to get in the car that takes you up.

Yes the cars are small and only hold 5 people, but really they weren't too bad...

Here is Kevin sitting in the car waiting for us to go up...

  

Here is the stadium again, I was surprised at how well you can see it from the top of the arch.

The view of the court house (we did a short tour later in the afternoon)

The view of the riverboat we would take later....

 This gives you and idea of how wide and big it really is at the top, and you can see the little windows you get to see out of. 

See Kevin really did make it to the top

We did the Arch, and the Riverboat on June 19....our anniversary....Happy 13th!